


tip of the tongue

by rudimentaryflair



Series: Drabble Jar [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Brothers, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Humor, Pre-Best Wishes, chili being a mood for 700 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24044473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudimentaryflair/pseuds/rudimentaryflair
Summary: In which Cress gets a migraine, Cilan despairs, and Chili has something important to say, but not in that order.
Series: Drabble Jar [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1696225
Comments: 11
Kudos: 36





	tip of the tongue

“Hey Ci, I need to tell you something important.”

Cilan looks up from where he’s polishing his shoes with a cloth on the floor. Beside him, Cress sets down the book he’s reading, sitting straighter in the lounge chair to survey Chili in interest.

“What’s that?” Cilan asks curiously.

Chili points at something outside the room. “There’s something wrong with the - ” He cuts himself off, opening and closing his mouth several times like a Stunfisk. He paces furiously in a small circle, muttering to himself.

Cress and Cilan observe this with a small amount of concern. “The?” Cress prompts.

Chili flails an arm at the doorway. “... the thing, you know?”

“No,” Cilan says patiently. “What are you talking about?”

“I just thought you’d wanna know,” Chili tries, “that the, the um. Man, what’s the word?”

“Try describing it,” Cress suggests. “You know what it looks like, right?”

“Right, okay.” Chili takes a breath. “You know when you go to the store, and you take the bus?”

“Is there something wrong with the bus?”

“No.” Chili’s face lights up, and he points frantically at Cilan. “You know Beartic?”

Cilan raises an eyebrow. “The Pokemon?” A pause. “Yes, I know what Beartic are.”

“Okay,” Chili says quickly, “so like when you go fishing and you have to hide from the Beartic.” He makes a wide swinging motion like he’s trying to cast a line, or maybe hit someone with a frying pan.

“ … what?”

“That thing.”

“... a boat?”

Cress snaps his fingers. “A tent!”

“We don’t own a tent,” Cilan points out. “Why would he be talking about a tent?”

“Why is he talking about Beartic?” Cress retorts. “Give us better clues.”

Chili frowns, looking thoughtful. “You need it when you go training.”

“Pansage,” Cilan guesses.

Chili shakes his head. “No. You chop it up.”

“Origami.”

“Ci,” Chili sighs in a put upon way, “you _fold_ origami, not cut it.”

Cress pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers, feeling a headache coming on. “Okay, you need to stop acting like we’re the stupid ones here.” 

“Well you can’t figure it out,” Chili says, waspish.

“Neither can you!”

Cilan raises his hands in a placating gesture, trying to stop their weird game of charades into devolving into a shouting match. “Guys, calm down. Chili, explain it to me.”

Chili groans and pulls at his hair with his hands. His eyes dart around the room, before settling a throw pillow wedged behind Cress's back. 

“I got it!” Chili makes a motion with his hands like he’s trying to lob a basketball at Cilan’s head. “So you know those things that puff up?” He’s met with two confused looks but continues undeterred. “You make ‘em really hot and they puff up like - like balloons, or like bubbles! And they’re yellow but sometimes brown and they look like mushrooms but if the mushrooms were made of clouds instead of mushrooms.”

There’s a long silence, during which Cress and Cilan stare at him.

“And they smell good,” Chili adds, apropos of nothing. He crosses his arms, looking proud of himself.

Cress and Cilan share a glance. “Okay, we give up,” Cress says.

Cilan nods in agreement. “Clearly we’ve bitten off more than we can chew.” He turns back to his shoes, and Cress reopens his book to continue reading.

They are not expecting Chili to gasp and declare loudly, “Yes, you chew it!”

Cress blinks. “You chew it like a food?” he asks slowly.

“Food!” Chili exclaims. “That’s what it was!” Then, he sobers and turns to Cilan, pointing. “Your food.”

Cilan smiles in relief. “Well I’m glad we sorted that out.” A pause. “So what about my food?”

“It’s burning.” 

As though on cue, the fire alarm goes off. 

Horror fills Cilan’s face. He blanches and shoots up off the ground, sending his shoes sprawling. Cress watches as he flies out the doorway past Chili, screaming. 

_“My soufflé!”_

There’s loud banging noise and some clattering, before the sounds of Cilan despairing over his ruined dessert start filtering out of the kitchen. It's a strange mixture of wailing and the occasional tearful apology to the baked good. Cress thinks he smells smoke. 

He turns to Chili, who is still staring at the empty space where Cilan once was in shock.

 _“Food?”_ Cress demands, voice high in disbelief. “Food is the word you couldn't think of?”

Chili lets out a tired exhale and slumps against the wall. "I've had a very long day."

“Chili, it's not even noon yet."

**Author's Note:**

> This idea is 100% Not Original. I was inspired by Studio C's [What's the Word](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m_TeJDVIIw) skit, which is hilarious and you should definitely go watch it. It felt like something that would happen to the Striaton Trio; in fact, this was originally supposed to be a part of a longer fic full of sibling shenanigans, but I thought it stood better on its own so :shrugs:. 
> 
> Anyways, I'm rudimentaryflair on Tumblr!


End file.
